The business of media and entertainment

Netflix ‘difficult to sustain’ as VoD revenues rise

Global SVoD revenues will double by 2021, but current market leader Netflix may struggle to maintain its current model, according to the latest Juniper Research study.

Juniper’s ‘Digital TV & Video: Network and OTT Strategies 2016-2021’ report has predicted that revenues revenues from SVoD services will rise from $14.6 billion this year to $34.6 billion in 2021 as an increasing number of countries make the switch from linear TV.

The report claims that Netflix’s international expansion could stall them in the long-term due to the price increases that have come with growth. These rises may benefit rival services, Juniper state, when rivals such as YouTube and Hulu launch ‘skinny bundles’ next year.

“Whilst Netflix has expanded its coverage globally, the test will be whether it can meet its original content production costs, as well as provide quality content to consumers,” said research author Lauren Foye.

“It is believed that US rival Hulu is now close to offering the same amount of content as Netflix, and others are pushing new models – such as Amazon’s monthly subscriptions to Prime video, and YouTube Red subscriptions for exclusive content.”